US election: 1 killed in shooting near polling station

One person was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting Tuesday near a polling location in this city near Los Angeles in USA during the presidential election.

The initial shooting was followed by a gun battle with responding police officers at the scene near the Memorial Park North Recreation Center, where voters were spooked by a volley of shots.

Police are looking for a female suspect and are trying to determine if there is also a male suspect.

Acting Azusa Police Chief Steve Hunt said police found multiple victims on the residential side of the street, across from the polling place. Three people were taken to a hospital, where one victim died.

Two of the victims were women. Hunt said he didn`t know the gender of the dead victim. A SWAT team sniper moves atop a building to cover a suspect on Fourth Street in Azusa, California.

Hunt said police also spied a body in the doorway of a home, but it was unclear whether the person was alive. Images from a news helicopter showed two feet sticking out the front door and a police robot shining a light on the body.

Later police carried out the body on a stretcher and put it on a sidewalk next to a police vehicle. At least three tactical teams were on the street outside the house, which might be where one or both suspects tried to hide during the gunfight with police.

Two schools were on lockdown and the polling center, along with another nearby, both were ‘impacted,’ authorities said. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the lead agency investigating the shootings, said on Twitter that there was no apparent connection between the rampage and the election.

Two voters who were inside the Memorial Park North Recreation Center when the shooting occurred spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity. The shots were not fired inside the polling station, witnesses said.

One voter says he was inside when he heard a bunch of shots ring out and people from outside starting to run in before officials locked the doors. He told CNN a ‘massive shooting is happening and the police have told us to stay indoors. We are currently on lock down.’

Another voter told CNN she heard the shots ring out. ‘At first, I thought it was construction but people came running into the room saying they see a guy with a bulletproof vest and a white shirt. As of right now, they just have us in the voting room and are trying to keep us calm,’ she said.

Officials were not allowing anyone to leave the building but people were still being allowed to vote while they waited, the woman said.

Pictures sent to CNN from inside the polling station showed many people inside, including a group of children who were in the building when the shots were heard.

The woman estimated about 30 people remained inside the locked-down polling location. About 15-20 children were evacuated from a gym inside the recreation center where people were voting, she said.

Eventually, all the voters were evacuated and some were directed to other sites where they were allowed to vote.
‘Voters should avoid the area and, if necessary, cast a ballot at an alternate polling location,’ LA County Registrar Dean Logan tweeted.

Asuza, a suburb 27 miles northeast of Los Angeles, is home to an estimated 45,000 residents.

Source: CNN